[tests] Isolate JNI reference leak tests

[simonrozsival]

Summary

• add a dedicated on-device MSTest/Microsoft Testing Platform app for JNI reference and peer leak checks
• serialize the entire assembly with [assembly: DoNotParallelize]
• migrate Android GREF, LREF, surfaced-peer, weak-peer, Java-side activation, object-array, and custom-widget leak checks out of shared test apps
• replace ambient process-total assertions with amplified leak checks or object-specific peer assertions
• run the app under CoreCLR in package CI, with additional nightly emulator coverage
• update the central MSTest dependency to the stable 4.3.0 release

Why

GREF and surfaced-peer counts are process-wide. The existing Android test apps load many unrelated fixtures into one process, and runtime or test-infrastructure work on background threads can change those totals while a test is taking before/after snapshots. Serializing NUnit workers did not prevent these failures.

The new app contains only reference-accounting tests and disables MSTest parallelism at the assembly level. Process-wide checks execute equal 100-operation warmup and measurement batches, allowing only a small fixed amount of ambient drift, so a per-operation leak is strongly amplified. Thread-local LREF checks retain exact accounting, while registry tests count only the specific peer under test.

Functional coverage remains in the original suites, and JVM-only accounting tests continue to run there. The custom-widget test previously quarantined under #11201 now passes reliably in the isolated process.

Validation

• make prepare && make all with serialized MSBuild
• local restore/build with TreatWarningsAsErrors=true: 0 warnings
• source-built JniReferenceLeakTests: 12 passed, 0 failed, 0 skipped under CoreCLR
• 10 additional fresh-process CoreCLR runs: all passed
• Java.Interop-Tests: 672 passed, 4 existing skips
• Mono.Android.NET-Tests.csproj build
• modified YAML and XML files parsed successfully
• git diff --check

Fixes #12031.
Supersedes #12037.

[Copilot]

Pull request overview

This PR isolates JNI reference/peer leak checks into a dedicated on-device MSTest/Microsoft Testing Platform (MTP) test app (tests/JniReferenceLeakTests) to avoid flaky process-wide assertions caused by unrelated background activity in shared device test processes.

Changes:

• Added a dedicated JniReferenceLeakTests Android test app with serialized MSTest execution ([assembly: DoNotParallelize]) and focused leak/peer assertions.
• Migrated/removed flaky or process-global JNI reference/peer-count assertions from shared device test suites; narrowed remaining assertions to object-specific checks or restricted them to non-Android runs.
• Wired the new test app into solution/test documentation and into CI (package tests for CoreCLR + Mono; nightly emulator coverage).

Show a summary per file

File	Description
Xamarin.Android-Tests.slnx	Adds the new JniReferenceLeakTests project to the tests solution structure.
tests/Mono.Android-Tests/Mono.Android-Tests/Java.Interop/JnienvTest.cs	Removes the weak-peer surfaced-object drift test from the shared device suite.
tests/Mono.Android-Tests/Mono.Android-Tests/Android.Widget/CustomWidgetTests.cs	Removes the previously ignored/flaky custom-widget GREF leak test from the shared suite.
tests/JniReferenceLeakTests/JniReferenceLeakTests.csproj	New dedicated Android MSTest/MTP app project for leak/peer accounting tests.
tests/JniReferenceLeakTests/TestInstrumentation.cs	Implements an MTP-based Android Instrumentation runner for MSTest with TRX reporting.
tests/JniReferenceLeakTests/AssemblyInfo.cs	Disables MSTest parallelism at the assembly level to stabilize process-wide accounting.
tests/JniReferenceLeakTests/ReferenceTestHelpers.cs	Adds helpers to amplify leak detection and synchronize GC/peer collection.
tests/JniReferenceLeakTests/GlobalReferenceTests.cs	Adds amplified GREF leak checks (TryFindClass, activation, object arrays).
tests/JniReferenceLeakTests/LocalReferenceTests.cs	Adds thread-local LREF accounting checks in an isolated process.
tests/JniReferenceLeakTests/PeerReferenceTests.cs	Adds object-specific surfaced-peer assertions + weak-peer collection check in isolation.
tests/JniReferenceLeakTests/WidgetReferenceTests.cs	Reintroduces the custom-view inflate leak check in the isolated harness.
tests/JniReferenceLeakTests/Resources/layout/leak_test_widget.axml	Layout used to inflate a custom managed widget for the leak test.
tests/JniReferenceLeakTests/java/net/dot/jni/referenceleaktests/ActivationProbeFactory.java	Java-side factory to exercise Java-side activation paths.
tests/JniReferenceLeakTests/AndroidManifest.xml	Manifest for the new test app.
tests/JniReferenceLeakTests/global.json	Forces Microsoft Testing Platform runner behavior when invoking dotnet test.
tests/CodeGen-Binding/Xamarin.Android.JcwGen-Tests/BindingTests.cs	Removes process-global GREF equality assertion from Java-side activation test.
external/Java.Interop/tests/Java.Interop-Tests/Java.Interop/JniTypeUtf8Test.cs	Restricts process-global GREF leak assertions to non-Android runs.
external/Java.Interop/tests/Java.Interop-Tests/Java.Interop/JniRuntimeJniValueManagerContract.cs	Changes peer assertions from total-count based to peer-specific checks; restricts GREF leak test to non-Android runs.
external/Java.Interop/tests/Java.Interop-Tests/Java.Interop/JniEnvironmentTests.cs	Restricts process-global reference-count assertions to non-Android runs.
external/Java.Interop/tests/Java.Interop-Tests/Java.Interop/JavaObjectTest.cs	Restricts runtime-global surfaced-peer count assertion to non-Android runs.
external/Java.Interop/tests/Java.Interop-Tests/Java.Interop/JavaObjectArrayTest.cs	Restricts fixture-wide process-global GREF baseline checks to non-Android runs.
external/Java.Interop/tests/Java.Interop-Tests/Java.Interop/JavaArrayContract.cs	Restricts fixture-wide LREF baseline checks to non-Android runs (covered in new isolated app).
build-tools/automation/yaml-templates/stage-package-tests.yaml	Adds CI legs to run the new app under CoreCLR and Mono in package tests.
build-tools/automation/azure-pipelines-nightly.yaml	Adds nightly emulator coverage for the new isolated leak test app.
.github/skills/tests/references/test-catalog.md	Documents how to build/run the new dedicated leak test app locally.

Copilot's findings

• Files reviewed: 25/25 changed files
• Comments generated: 0

[simonrozsival]

✅ New JniReferenceLeakTests project — all tests green on CI

Confirmed on the public dotnet-android build #1504876, in Package Tests → macOS → APKs 2: the new isolated project built, deployed to the emulator, ran under CoreCLR, and passed 12/12 tests — 0 failed, 0 skipped.

Lane tasks all succeeded: build JniReferenceLeakTests-CoreCLR → run JniReferenceLeakTests-CoreCLR → publish JniReferenceLeakTests-CoreCLR results (the diagnose install failure step was skipped, i.e. a clean deploy).

12 passing tests

GlobalReferenceTests

• JavaObjectArrayOperationsDoNotLeakGlobalReferences
• JavaSideActivationDoesNotLeakGlobalReferences
• TryFindClassStringDoesNotLeakGlobalReferences
• TryFindClassUtf8DoesNotLeakGlobalReferences

LocalReferenceTests

• ArrayOperationsDoNotLeakLocalReferences
• InvalidCreatedReferenceDoesNotChangeLocalReferenceCount
• JavaSideActivationDoesNotLeakLocalReferences

PeerReferenceTests

• AddPeerDoesNotRegisterDuplicates
• RepeatedConstructPeerDoesNotLeakGlobalReferences
• UnregisterFromRuntimeRemovesSurfacedPeer
• WeakPeerIsCollectedWithoutLeakingReferences

WidgetReferenceTests

• InflateCustomViewDoesNotLeakGlobalReferences

ℹ️ The one red lane on this build (APKs 1 → build Mono.Android.NET_Tests-Debug) is a separate binding-compile break in the pre-existing Java.Interop-Tests project (CS0436/CS0108/CS0114 in generated Net.Dot.Jni.Test.* code) — unrelated to these new tests.

_{🤖 Automated CI status summary via GitHub Copilot CLI.}

[simonrozsival]

/review

[github-actions]

✅ Android PR Reviewer completed successfully!

[github-actions]

⚠️ Review — Isolate JNI reference leak tests

Solid, well-motivated PR. Moving process-wide GREF/surfaced-peer accounting out of the shared multi-fixture test apps into a dedicated [assembly: DoNotParallelize] MSTest/MTP app is the right fix for the flakiness described in #12031: the refactored contract tests now count only the specific peer under test (GetSurfacedPeerCount(peer)) instead of process-global totals, and the warmup+measurement amplification in AssertNoGlobalReferenceLeak is a sound way to turn per-op leaks into detectable deltas. Guarding the process-wide assertions in the Java.Interop suite with #if !__ANDROID__ cleanly leaves JVM-only accounting where it belongs.

Verdict: ⚠️ Needs Changes (minor) — nothing blocking; mostly the Debug-vs-Release CI question worth a maintainer decision.

Findings

• 💡 Unreachable return; after Assert.Inconclusive in PeerReferenceTests.
• 💡 Surfaced-peer tolerance/batch duplicated inline instead of reusing the ReferenceTestHelpers amplification helper.
• 💡 MTP run exceptions in TestInstrumentation are only surfaced via the result Bundle; also log to adb logcat.
• ⚠️ Nightly + package lanes build this app as Debug only, so full trimming (Release-only) leaks aren't exercised — please confirm intent.

Notes

• CI status is still pending on the head commit — the Azure DevOps dotnet-android pipeline hadn't reported at review time. This isn't LGTM-able until those checks are green; please re-check the pipeline (and the newly-added JniReferenceLeakTests lanes) before merge.
• Nice touches: per-thread exact LREF accounting retained, [MethodImpl(NoInlining)] on the weak-reference/array creators to keep locals from being kept alive, and the migrated custom-widget test (#11201) now running in isolation.

Positive callout: the diff meaningfully reduces ambient-noise coupling rather than just papering over flakes with wider tolerances. 👍

Generated by Android PR Reviewer for #12038 · 116.1 AIC · ⌖ 13.3 AIC · ⊞ 6.8K
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